When the angel promised Zacharias and Elizabeth they would have a child, God’s messenger promised that the boy would grow to be a great man.
The angel said that John would be a austere man, and an inspired preacher. His efforts, it was said, would “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (16).
John’s ministry would be one of preparation, the prophesied forerunner of the Christ. It would be his purpose to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (vs. 17).
The prophet Malachi spoke of him, “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me” (3:1) His ministry would portend the advent of the Messiah, “Behold, He is coming,’ says the Lord of hosts’” (3:1).
Jesus himself referred to John and his ministry in Matthew 11. Of John he said, “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet” … “And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come” (vss. 9,14).
God is faithful, and all these glad tidings to the childless couple came true in every detail, to His glory.
